Support for Iran in the meeting of Financial Action Task Force on money laundering (FATF) in Spain was unprecedented and Washington was not able to ally countries with itself to forge consensus against the Islamic Republic, an informed source says.
The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Thursday that US President Donald Trump and some of its regional allies tried hard to use the FATF against Iran but like the previous year, they failed to prevent improvement of Iran’s status.
Iran has started engaging with FATF and executing domestic regulations in this regard, and this could result in improvement of the Islamic Republic’s ranking in the organization, the source noted.
According to the source, many countries, including the EU members have welcomed Iran’s progress in fighting money laundering and they have resisted anti-Iranian demands made by the White House and certain states.
Officials affiliated with United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) are also using the US media, including the Wall Street Journal to encourage FATF anti-Iranian measures, the source added.
According to the official website of the Financial Action Task Force, FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 by the Ministers of its Member jurisdictions.
The objectives of the FATF are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
The FATF is therefore a “policy-making body” which works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas.